‘Wrong’ question in JEE: CBSE to grant 4 marks

MUMBAI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has given four marks to all students for an 'erroneous' question in the physics section in Joint Entrance Examination (Main) held early this month. None of the options given in the question were correct and therefore 'bonus' marks were given to all students. In another question, two of the given options were right, the board has given marks to all students who have opted for either of the correct answers.
On the basis of the answer key and the OMR (optical mark reader) sheets of students released by the board on Saturday, several students managed to calculate their scores. Coaching institutes have already started compiling the lists of their toppers. However, the results will be declared by CBSE only on April 27. Students who have doubts in the answer key released by the board can challenge the questions within a week's time, said the board, before the release of the final results.
Tanuj Kaza and Rishabh Shah from a coaching Institute-run junior college in Andheri which runs integrated courses for engineering entrance exams have calculated their scores to be 335 and 332 out of 360 respectively. While both the students are delighted to have scored above 330, none were sure about their ranks vis-à-vis other students in the city. However, an official from the institute claimed that they have not come across scores of students which are higher than these two.
Ramesh Batlish from a coaching institute said that the board has given 'bonus' four marks to all students for a question in the physics section. He added that in another question in physics two answers were right and the board has given marks to students who have opted for either of the right options. Apart from these two questions, students have doubt in a question each in mathematics and chemistry which some may challenge. In the mathematics question, students claim that none of the given options are correct, while in chemistry, the board's right answer is not what students believe it is.
Students found the physics and mathematics sections in the JEE (Main) paper conducted early this month to be on the tougher side. Over 13 lakh students appeared for the test across the country. The top 1.5 lakh students in JEE (Main) will be eligible to appear for the JEE (Advanced) for admissions to IITs.